Railroad-crossing



. (No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 1.

T. SMITH.

RAILROAD cnossme.

"Patented July 19,1892.

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(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

T. SMITH.

RAILROAD CROSSING.

No. 479,027. Patented July 19, 1892.

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PATENT Erica.

THOMAS SMITH, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA.

RAILROAD-CROSSING.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters PatentNo. 479,027, dated July 19,1892.

Application filed September 18, 1891- Serial No. 406,061. (No model.)

T0 aZZ whom, it may concern.-

Be it known that I, THOMAS SMITH, a citizen of the United States.residing at Philadelphia, in the county of Philadelphia and State ofPennsylvania,have invented certain new and.

useful Improvements in Railroad-Crossings, of which the following is aspecification, reference being had therein to the accompanying drawings.

My invention relates to improvements in railroad-crossings, and has forits objects the provision of a crossing for railroads which will besimple in its construction, easy of operation, and which will permittrainsto pass thereover safely at a high speed without jarring. Thisobject I accomplish by the use of the mechanism illustrated in theannexed drawings; and the invention consists in certain novel featuresof the same, which will be hereinafter first fully described, and thenpointed out in the claims.

In the drawings referred to, Figure l is a plan view of my improvedcrossing set for the main track. Fig. 2 is a similar view showing it setfor the intersecting track, and Fig. 3 is a vertical section on the linea: 00 of Fig. 1.

For convenience of description I will refer to the track as the maintrack which I have marked A on the drawings and the track which I havemarked 13, I will refer to as the cross or intersecting track. The mainand cross tracks are constructed in'the usual manner, and the ends ofthe rails are brought closely together, so as to present an unbrokensurface over which the car-wheels may pass.

The ends of the rails of the tracks are supported on bed-plates 1, whichare secured on the ties at the corners of the crossing and also serve tosupport the ends of the inner rail-sections 2 and the corners of theguardrails 3. The inner-rail sections 2 are arranged in alignment withtheir respective tracks and have their ends beveled, as shown at 4, fora purpose which will be hereinafter set forth. The guard-rails form anunbroken parallelogram having its corners secured on the bedplates 1audits sides connected with the inner rail-sections by the check plates5, which maintain it at the proper distance from the rail-sections.

At each corner of the crossingI providea pair of angular movablerail-sections 6, which are adapted to slide on the bed-plates 1 to andaway from the track-rails, and thereby presen t a continuous rail ortrack on one road and simultaneously break and close the track on theother road. The end of one arm of each of these movable rail-sections isbeveled, so as to engage the beveled end of the inner fixed rail-sectionand be thereby guided into its proper position when the crossing isoperated. The end of the other arm of each one is turned slightlyoutward, as shown at '7, so that the said section will serve as aguard-rail. The members of each pair of movable rail-sections move inopposite directions, so that when one of said sections is moved intoposition to form a part of its track its mate will be moved against theguard-rail, so as to close, theintersecting track, and thereby preventtravel thereover, as well as to form a continuous guard-rail for thetrack which has been opened.

The movable rail-sections that are moved in the same direction areconnected by rods 8, which have their ends secured to the bases orflanges of the said sections and extend diagonally across the crossing,one of said rods being extended beyond the crossing and connectedtoatargetand signal to permit a switchmantooperatethecrossingandproperly-signal the state of the crossingto approaching trains. At thecenter of the crossingI provide a plate 9, on which I secure a pivotbolt or pin 10, upon the upper end of which I pivot: the links 11, whichhave their ends pivoted to the rods 8, thus connecting the said rods, sothat the rods which are parallel will move in opposite directions. Atone side of the center of the crossingand thepivot-boltlO I provideapivotbolt 12, on the upper end of which I mount an angle-lever 13, theends of which are pivoted to the adjacent rods 8, as shown. These rodsare thus connected so that the operation of the target (not shown) willoperate all the rods simultaneously.

The operation of the switch is thought to be apparentfrom the foregoingdescription,taken in connection with the accompanying drawings. As shownin Fig. 1 the crossing is arranged to permittrains to travelover themain track A and to prevent travel over the crosstrack. It will beobserved that the movable rail-sections lying between the rails of thecross-track are abutting against the said rails and that their innerarms form a part of the main track, while the movable rail-sectionslying between the rails of the main track have been moved up against theinner guard-rail and form extensions or oontinuations of the same. If itbe desired to permit the passage of a train over the cross-track, thetarget is operated so as to draw the rod 8 to which it is attachedoutward. The movable rail-sections to which the said rod is attachedwill be thus moved away from the guard-rail and against the track-rails,while the parallel rod will be set in motion by the connecting-link 11to move the corresponding movable rail-sections away from thetrack-rails and against the guard-rail, as will be readily understoodupon reference to Fig. 2. At the same time the angle-lever will impartmotion to the other pair of parallel rods and the movable rail-sectionsat the remaining corners of the crossing will be adjusted.

It will be seen from the foregoing description that I have provided arailroad-crossing which is very simple in its construction and whichwill be easily operated to permit the passage of trains on one track,while preventing travel on the intersecting track. Inasmuch as themovable rail-sections are connected through intermediate devices and areoperated sinnlltaneously, it is impossible for both tracks to be leftopen at once. Consequently all danger of collisions is overcome.Furthermore, as the movable rail-sections are moved close against theguard-rail and the track-rails a continuous unbroken track and guardrail is provided along the track that is open, and trains can thereforepass over the crossing at a high rate of speed w thout any liabilityofjumping the track and without any jarring.

The operating mechanism is very simple 1n its construction,and isconsequently not liable to get out of order, and is positive in itsaction, so that there can be no misapprehension of the state of thecrossing at any time.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secureby Letters Patent, is-

1. The combination of the track-rails, the guard-rail, the fixedrail-sections, and the movable rail-sections adapted to move from theguard-rail to the track-rails between the track-rails and the fixedrail'sections.

2. In a railroad-crossingof the character described, the movablerail-sections having one end turned slightly outward, substantially asand for the purposes set forth.

The combination of the movable rail-sections, the rods connecting thesame in pairs, links connecting the rods in pairs, an anglelevcrconnecting the pairs of rods, and means for operating the said lever.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in the presence of twowitnesses.

THOMAS SMITH.

Witnesses:

' EDW. II'AUGH,

WALTER W. CALMORE.

